The Dragon's Child
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Years prior to canon, an egg was stolen from the dragons. Azula and Zuko have to find the dragon's child before impending war between the last dragons and the Fire Nation comes into fruition.


"_We're almost there." The man hisses. The woman next to him remains silent. She is still wholly unsure of the entire endeavor. "We just have to cross the main chamber." The light of his torch throws shadows across the cave walls. Shadows that put a chill in the woman's soul and lifts the hairs on her neck. She swears that she can hear the groans and growls of the dragons. _

_The egg cradled in her arms feels that much heavier. _

"_We can't just take it." She says._

"_We can and we will." The man snaps. "Now quiet down before they awaken." _

_She decides not to tell him that his single sentence carried enough volume to wake a dragon three caves over. She clutches the egg tighter, it's rough surface nicks her skin like thorns. "I don't want to go through with this. We can still return it…" _

"_No." He replies through gritted teeth. "This is the only way that we will get what we want...what our Nation deserves." _

_They step into the light. _

_The woman tosses a final look at the cave._

_Not a dragon to be seen or heard. _

_She wishes that there were one._

**.oOo.**

Zuko claws at his hairline. On days like these, he is more than half inclined to take Azula up on her offer. He can hand the crown over to her and enjoy his newfound leisure time. With several years of recovery, he feels as though she'd fit the throne well. She has the know how and the leadership skills for it, even if her compassion and diplomacy can be somewhat lacking. But he is committed.

She lingers in the room waiting for something to do, but until now, things have been quiet. There are no riots, no terrorists, no skirmishes to break up and so the princess is horribly bored. She wanders over to her brother and rests her elbows on his desk, deliberately obstructing his paperwork.

"Can you move? This is important."

"I can." She replies simply.

He blinks at her.

"Oh, you actually want me to move."

Zuko massages his temples.

"Then give me something to do, Zuzu."

"Read a book? Paint a picture? Feed the turtle-ducks."

Azula scrunches her nose. "Give me something worthwhile to do."

"If you let me finish reading these, I might find something."

She moves her arms and stands behind him with her arms folded. He tries to ignore her as he flips through the pile for the letter detailing the most pressing problem. He is getting the sense that his days of peace are coming to an end. Amid the mundane tasks is a letter from a traveler.

Zuko doesn't know how much stock he should put into the letter or if he should put any at all. The letter's sender isn't exactly credible.

He digs it out of the pile and holds it out to Azula no less.

"What's this?"

"Read it."

He gives her a moment, watching her eyes sweep the page. "A joke." She casts it aside. "Or a story."

"Why would someone write me a story about dragons wanting to go to war with us?"

Azula shrugs. "Maybe they are as bored as I am."

"This is serious."

Azula rolls her eyes. "Is it? The dragons are long dead."

Zuko knits his brows. "No, not all of them."

"I'll humor you, Zuzu. But only because I have nothing else to do right now. What the last dragons want with us?"

"I guess that we're going to have to meet with them and find out."

"You mean that you will. I'll stay here and make sure things stay in order." He can see it on her face that she has been waiting for a chance to snaf the crown, even if it's only for a moment. "Don't worry, I won't destroy my own nation."

"I need someone to go with me."

"Send a messenger hawk to the Avatar, I'm sure that he'd be glad to go on another quest with you." She gives a nonchalant shrug. "Or I suppose that I can go…"

"You're not going along."

"You still don't trust me." She guesses flatly.

"No!" Zuko says quickly. "It's not that. Believe it or not I actually kind of care about you…"

"I can take care of myself, Zuzu."

Zuko taps his fingers upon the table. "We can go together. I can leave Mai in charge for a bit." Her expression goes curiously blank. It is an expression that he has come to know as resignation, perhaps disappointment. "Alright, fine. You can stay here and watch over things. I'll bring Aang with me to meet with the dragons."

She gives him the faintest flash of a smile. "Crown?" She holds out her hand.

He rolls his eyes and places it in her palm. "Just don't change any laws or policies on me."

**.oOo. **

That night she dreams of dragons. Flashes of red and blue scales and then gold and green. They are everywhere, pillaging the landscape with a power both awesome and fearsome. A power that she, even deep within the dreamscape, envies with all of her soul. She finds herself overtaken by a longing.

A desire to be in the sky with them, mighty and unstoppable. To have wings of her own and scales and claws.

The whole of the Fire Nation is consumed by its own element. The streets are a cacophony of screams. The pathways have a fine paint of blood. Claws swoop from the sky and steal lives away and she is in the middle of it all.

In the center of the chaos and the destruction.

Right in the center, at the heart of it all.

There is nothing but horror and hopelessness around her from all angles and vantage and pleas and people shouting their despairs as claws rake through them and fire rains upon them.

And yet all she feels is longing.

Deep and terrible longing.


End file.
